Inside-Out Buffalo Chicken
Inside-Out Buffalo Chicken puts Crystal Hot Sauce where it belongs — injected directly into the muscle of a whole spatchcocked bird, with a cayenne and chipotle crust sealing the deal on the outside.
Calories per serving: 104kcal
Ingredients
- 4 pound (1.81 kg) Chicken, whole
- ¼ cup (73 g) Crystal
Rub
- 1 tablespoon (0.99 tablespoon) Cayenne
- 2 tablespoon (1.97 tablespoon) Chipotle pepper
- ½ teaspoon (0.49 teaspoon) Salt, Kosher
- 3 tablespoon (2.96 tablespoon) Butter, at room temperature
Sauce
- ½ cup (118.29 ml) Blue Cheese Dressing
Instructions
- Gather ingredients
- Set the butter on the counter and let it come to room temperature.
- Put the Crystal in a glass to easily access it. A shot glass works very well.
- Combine the seasonings for the rub. Put your gloves on.
- Spatchcock the chicken and wipe the skin dry, Put the chicken on the rack of your roaster.
- Fill the injection needle and start injecting at the breast. Inject at an angle, not straight down. Inject slowly so the liquid has time to absorb before more is injected in.
- After all the injecting is done, wipe the skin down again.1
- Rub the chicken with all the butter.
- Sprinkle the spice mixture generously on the skin and rub it into the butter. Be careful to get into all the nooks and crannies,
- Put the chicken in the oven set at 350 °F (177 °C). Cook the chicken at 20 minutes per pound or KG or until it reaches an internal temperature on the thigh of 160 °F (71 °C). Remove the chicken from the oven and let it rest and continue cooking to 165 °F (74 °C).
- Serve with Blue Cheese Dressing.
Notes
Crystal is recommended because its thin consistency moves through an injector needle cleanly. Any thin Louisiana-style hot sauce works well — Tabasco is a natural swap. El Yucateco is a different flavor profile entirely, habanero-based and deeper, but its thin consistency makes it injector-friendly and worth exploring if you want to take the heat in a different direction. Avoid thick sauces like sriracha — they will clog the needle.
Scan for full nutrition info and step-by-step photos.
